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Yara Zgheib's The Girls at 17 Swann Street: Book Review from Net Galley

2/4/2019

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"There must have been signs, but we were distracted by the roller coaster of the adventure. Paperwork, looking for a couch for the apartment, ties and shirts for Matthias."

"I used to eat. I used to like to eat, then I grew scared to eat, ceased to eat. Now my stomach hurts; I have been anorexic for so long that I have forgotten how to eat."

​"I did not choose anorexia. I did not choose to starve. But every morning, over and over, I choose to fight it, again."
Thank you to Partner NetGalley for the awesome opportunity to read this book before publication. The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib is a powerful, gripping novel written by a commanding, courageous writer who addresses eating disorders and mental health head on. It is a story that needs to be told, and Zgheib tells it in a captivating way that forces the reader to take a good long look at the reality of that situation for everyone involved. 
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This story is the struggle of Anna Roux, an anorexic twenty-six year old married French woman living in America with her husband of three years, Matthias. As the story unfolds, Anna has been voluntarily placed in care at 17 Swann Street in DC, a residential facility for women with severe anorexia or bulimia. The novel is a powerful examination of everything leading up to that moment side by side with the experience of being in the residential facility itself, trying to find a way back from starvation and into life. 

Most notable about this novel is the raw, direct way that Anna's narration depicts how unbelievably difficult it is for someone with anorexia nervosa to overcome it, even when that person desperately wants to be well. Throughout the novel, it is readily apparent that Anna's husband Matthias adores her and that her father and sister in France are still very close to her. However, Zgheib reveals how little the family intervenes, even when they see that Anna is in crisis. Even Matthias does not act:
      "They had both become too comfortably settled in the magical kingdom of makebelieve. She
       made believe that she was happy and all was fine, and he made believe it was true. It was less
       painful than confrontation. Confrontation just led to fights. And so she ate nothing and they
       both ate lies through three years of marriage, for peace, at the occasional cost of no more roller
       coasters, no more sharing ice cream and French fries."
Matthias, who clearly loves Anna dearly and sees that she is suffering, cannot find a way to reach her. Anna's other family members also do not know what to say; what they do say only leads to brutal fights. And so they go on in silence until it is absolutely impossible to keep going. The pathway back is a long and painful one for all of them, and the end is uncertain.

By tracing the path of Anna's life, Zgheib shows how someone who is seemingly successful, happy, in love, and willing to change and grow spirals down into a husk of a person, unable to look at much less consume food. Zgheib demonstrates how some catastrophic childhood events coupled with dancing ballet, concern over body image, pressure to lose weight, and major life changes in early adulthood result in a profoundly severe situation for Anna as she finds herself starving to death.

I also loved the way that Zgheib incorporates facts and statistics into the narration; those biting details make real for the reader how destructive and deadly both anorexia and bulimia can be. Zgheib lays bare the cruel facts about how anorexia physically destroys the body. As Anna lives at 17 Swann Street, she arms herself with information about the disease that plagues her body. Throughout the novel, Anna notes what she learns, such as what she read in the patient manual: "Only 33% of women with anorexia nervosa maintain full recovery after nine months. Of those, approximately one-third will relapse after the nine-month mark." Some of the information is terribly discouraging, but Anna seems to take comfort in the knowing, even if knowing is painful. 

Anna's time at the house is unbelievably difficult for her. The regimes are brutal for the girls there, and the methods can be severe, though the readers comes to understand how vital those methods are for the women. Feeding tubes become a fact of life for anyone who refuses to comply with the meal plans. The required therapy sessions threaten to tear Anna apart. It's clear that the people who work there have seen everything that Anna is experiencing before, and they can sometimes seem callous and even cruel from her perspective. Yet those caretakers are saving the lives of the women there, as Anna comes to understand.

I found Anna's tale captivating, and I believe that Zgheib speaks to many of the misconceptions and biases surrounding anorexia nervosa and bulimia, forcing the reader to take a clear-eyed look at the brutal reality of life for a person living with either of those conditions. Strikingly compelling and full of heartbreak but even fuller of hope, this is a phenomenal novel that will stay with the reader long after finishing. 

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Some Favorite Reads from 2018 - The Girl Who Drank the Moon and Amal Unbound

1/14/2019

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This week on Unabridged, we're sharing some of our favorites reads from 2018. These were two of my favorite reads in 2018. Both are middle grade, though Barnhill’s book could be read by younger kids. They both feature strong women who stand against oppression and make courageous choices.

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, a global read aloud book of 2018, is a phenomenal story about Amal, a brave girl in Pakistan who has tremendous family responsibilities that pull her away from the education she treasures. Her situation goes from challenging to unbearable when she uncharacteristically speaks up for herself against a formidable landlord in the town, changing her life forever. It is a story of determination, perseverance, and hope. LOVED it!!!!

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is a lovely, whimsical story that includes dragons, swamp creatures, witches, and town elders. I love the way the story challenges stereotypes and highlights the importance of questioning traditions and accepting what is simply because it's what always has been. I listened to this one on @Scribd, and I loved it so much I also bought a copy! I can't wait to read it again and to read it aloud with my girls!

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Unabridged Podcast January 2019 Book Club - Justina Ireland's Dread Nation

1/6/2019

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Quick Summary: This is a novel set during the time period of the American civil war, but in the story, during the war, the soldiers become the undead, and through bites, they contaminated more people. In the years that follow, teens of color are put into combat schools to learn to be attendants for wealthy white people. Jane McKeene is a teen participating in the combat training program, but when she is abruptly shipped off to a settlement out west, she discovers even more challenges in their unstable world.
My Take: I loved this novel. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it because "zombie books" aren't typically my favorite, but I adored Jane's forthright, courageous character from the beginning, and I was captivated by the horrendous circumstances put in place by the white, privileged people in power in the society. 
My conclusion: This is a powerful read - fast moving with rich characters and complex circumstances. Jane McKeene is one of my all-time favorite YA characters - she's clever, sassy, and determined. Most importantly, I love the way that Justina Ireland provides insightful commentary on the ways that American culture has systemically and mercilessly oppressed people groups in order to further the causes of the few privileged people within the society (who use their privilege to maintain the hegemonic social structure) and the fierce bravery of those who stand against that structure.  4/5 stars. 
Favorite Quotes: 
  • “It’s a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part.”  - While the society was being overtaken by the shamblers (their term for the undead), it's clear throughout the book that the evil and corruption plaguing them lies within those in power, not the undead. 
  • “The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me. I guess it should have been obvious to everyone right then that I wasn't going to have a normal life.”  - I loved Jane's perspective and sense of humor throughout the novel. She understood the complexities and cruelties of the world around her, and while she did not sit passively by and accept the status quo, she also did not begrudge her life. She accepted it with courage, levity, and determination, and she forged onward toward a better future.
What I added to my TBR list: Jen talked about Patrick Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go, and that reminded me that all three of those books are on my shelf (thanks to Green Valley Book Fair!) and await my reading of them. Maybe I'll tackle them in 2019 - this year I'm really focusing on The Unread Shelf project and reading what I own.
Teaching Tips: This would be an awesome book to use for lit circles. It is a great read for teens and would work well in any class from grades 9-12 (and could be handled by some middle school students as well). As far as lit circles go, this book could be in a group with other books about the civil war era, but it could also fit nicely with books about oppression, justice, and the power of young people to change the world around them.
Podcast Highlights: I particularly loved the discussion about Jane as a protagonist who is more complex and real than many of the female teen protagonists we see in dystopian or apocalyptic YA novels. I think Sara was right that Jane is more real and richer in depth than many of the female protagonists in YA novels.

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Unabridged Podcast Highlights - Anne Bogel's Reading People AND I'd Rather Be Reading

10/15/2018

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Photo credit goes to the amazing Sara. Find her at meaningfulmadness.com or on Instagram @meaningfulmadness. 
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Interested in the episode? Click below for show notes and to listen online, or find us on Stitcher, iTunes, or anywhere you like to listen to podcasts.
Show Notes and Episode
Quick Summaries: 
  • Anne Bogel,  with the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and What Should I Read Next podcast, is an amazing blogger and podcaster who is at the heart of the bookish world. Our Unabridged crew had the pleasure of reading and discussing her two books on our latest highlights episode.
  • Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything​ - This book discusses how by examining our personality types we can construct a deeper understanding of ourselves as both people and readers. From the publisher, “Reading People explains what makes you uniquely you, what makes the people in your life uniquely them, and why it all matters. “ Anne has researched and compiled information to help us discover more about ourselves in an accessible way.
  • I'd Rather Be Reading: the Delights and the Dilemmas of the Reading Life - This one is a collection of bookish essays by Anne. She has the gift of making you feel comfortable and heard within the pages of her book. The essays speak to all the bookish loves, sins, and traps we all fall into.​​

My Take: These books were fascinating to read. I was captivated by Reading People, and I learned quite a bit about my own personality, especially in the chapter on highly sensitive people. I'd Rather Be Reading was a playful and interesting examination of the reading life and its manifestations. 
My conclusion:  I loved both of these books, and they were so fun to discuss with my podcast co-hosts. It's fascinating to think about your personality, and it can be a helpful way to connect better to loved ones and to live a more fulfilling life. The bookish essays within I'd Rather Be Reading were such a joy for my book-loving heart. 

Podcast Highlights: It was both fun and illuminating to discuss the books (and our personalities!) with Jen and Sara. We learned all sorts of things about ourselves, and it was such a joy to explore our bookish loves in our conversation together. 
Unabridged Pod Website
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Unabridged Highlights: Global Read Aloud Books

9/17/2018

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Quick Summary: In this episode, we discussed three of the choices for Global Read Aloud this year. If you're unfamiliar with Global Read Aloud, it is a movement focused on connecting classrooms around the world through shared reading experiences. Below are the summaries we wrote for each of the novels we discuss in the podcast.
  • Samira Ahmed's Love, Hate and Other Filters: Maya Aziz is an aspiring filmmaker, a senior in high school who is balancing determining her own future with pleasing her traditional Indian immigrant parents.  This novel addresses her crush on a white classmate, Phil; her potential relationship with Kareem, a boy from her own Muslim culture; and the prejudice that follows an act of terrorism that has a huge impact on Maya’s (and her parents’) consideration of her identity.

  • Aisha Saeed's Amal Unbound: Amal is a twelve-year-old girl in a small village in Pakistan. As the oldest sibling with a new baby on the way, she has many responsibilities to her family. As those pressures build and her time in school, a place of refuge for her, decreases, she feels increasingly distraught. A momentary loss of composure in the village marketplace causes a major shift in her life circumstances, forcing her into a life of indentured servitude for the local landlord who oversees the village. As her world spirals out of control, she has to struggle to decide who she will be and how she will move forward.

  • Alan Gratz's Refugee: This story examines the lives of three different refugees coming from different time periods and circumstances-- Josef is a Jewish boy fleeing from Nazi Germany, Isabel is a Cuban girl fleeing the Castro regime in 1994, and Mahmoud is a Syrian boy escaping war-torn Aleppo in 2015. Refugee is the story of the journey each of these young people take with their families in search of refuge from political persecution in their own countries.
My Take: While I enjoyed aspects of all three of these novels, I loved Refugee  the most. I found all three of the story lines totally captivating, and I love a book with multiple narrators. What I most appreciated is the way that Gratz uses the different storylines to break down some misconceptions and negative attitudes that people seem to have toward refugees. I also loved Amal Unbound and so appreciated the insight Ahmed gave into life in a Pakistani village. I appreciated the way Ahmed revealed the complex cultural dynamics that lead toward girls being uneducated and the way she highlighted the brave steps girls around Pakistan are taking to change the culture and their larger world.
My conclusions: 
  • Love, Hate and Other Filters - 3 out of 5 stars
  • Amal Unbound - 5 out of 5 stars
  • Refugee - 5 out of 5 stars
Teaching Tips: All three of these novels would work well in the classroom. Love, Hate, and Other Filters would be a great lit circle book and could be taught with other books about hate crimes, terrorism, or second generation experiences. Amal Unbound is a quick, powerful read and could definitely be read whole class as it is fascinating and moves quickly. We're planning to teach Refugee  whole class with our tenth grade students. However, having done some read aloud with them so far this year, we've realized that Refugee  is likely going to be too much to get through with read aloud alone. We're planning to get enough copies for the students so that we can read parts aloud but then let them read by themselves in between the sections we'll read together. 
Podcast Highlights: It was so fun to discuss all three of these books with Jen and Sara, and I loved hearing their perspectives. ​
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    K. Ashley Dickson-Ellison is a former high school English teacher (who is now an instructional technology teacher) interested in exploring the integration of trending young adult literature into the English classroom experience. Ashley is also a member of the podcast Unabridged; check out the podcast site below.

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    Ashley's books

    Young Jane Young
    Never Fall Down
    The Sun Is Also a Star
    Castle of Water
    Turtles All the Way Down
    A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story
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    One of Us Is Lying
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    A Court of Thorns and Roses
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© K. Ashley Dickson and Teaching the Apocalypse 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to K. Ashley Dickson and Teaching the Apocalypse with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All thoughts and ideas are the author's and do not represent any employer.
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